Financial advice is too costly for people on low incomes

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) fears some people on low incomes may be unable to to convert their annuities because of the cost of financial advice.

The group is anxious at the suggestion that it should be obligatory to obtain financial advice before accessing the proposed secondary annuities market. It said many of the people who wish to take advantage of such a market will be those with small annuities some worth as little as a few hundred pounds a year. It is unlikely they will pay an independent financial adviser to receive advice that may be of limited value.

Anthony Thomas LITRG chairman said: ‘More thought needs to be put into the mooted obligatory use of financial advisers to access the secondary annuities market. We must be careful that we are not denying those of modest means the benefits of the greater freedom on...